A GROUP of western Victorian regional councils has formed an alliance to lobby state and federal governments for $300m for urgent road infrastructure works on Princes Highway West, between Colac and the South Australian border.
Warrnambool City Council and Moyne, Corangamite and Colac Otway shires have come together under the banner of the Princes Highway West Action Alliance (PHWAA) to push for urgently needed works across the 297km stretch of the key transport corridor.
PHWAA spokesperson Scott Cavanagh said while traffic on the east-west corridor had increased significantly in recent years, the last VicRoads strategy for the highway was produced 19 years ago.
“Since 2012, we have witnessed nine fatalities, 109 people who have suffered serious injuries and many more who have been injured as a result of accidents along this stretch of the highway,” he said.
“Yet it has been almost two decades since the formal plan for this section of the highway has been updated and there is no doubt in many areas it is dangerous and clearly in need of urgent upgrade or rectification works.”
The councils have previously estimated $300m would potentially be required over four years to start necessary improvement works.
Frustrated by the lack of an appropriate infrastructure strategy for the highway, the PHWAA is now independently funding a major review to deliver an accurate assessment of the current state of the road and identify key priorities for urgent improvements.
“The poor state of this road is creating real and tangible impacts for our communities and must be addressed,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“The costs both socially and commercially are too significant to be ignored and we believe our communities deserve better.”
The Victorian Government recently announced the formation of Regional Roads Victoria (RRV) – charged with delivering the government’s $941m regional roads program.
“We are delighted with the government’s announcement and see it as a prime opportunity for us to sit down with the newly appointed chief regional roads officer Paul Northey to really push our case for funding support,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“We will look to meet with him as soon as we can.”
The alliance will also look to hold urgent meetings with federal parliamentarians to outline its case for joint funding.
“We anticipate our strategic report will be finalised by the end of 2018 and with that in hand we will knock on doors and politely demand a much better deal for Western Victoria,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“There is no doubt these improvements to Princes Highway West are urgently needed, our communities are suffering and something has to be done.”
